3DS Ambassadors Program: Top Ten NES Games

Tomorrow (September 1) is a big day for Nintendo 3DS owners, more specifically, members of the exclusive Ambassadors Program.

These lucky players, who purchased the system before the August 12 price drop and accessed the virtual eShop, will be able to download ten NES titles to their systems free of charge.

Nintendo recently revealed all ten games, and the big N did a decent job creating a variety of hits from the system's past.

On that note, some are better than others.

With this in mind, we ranked each game (from ten- least, to one- most important) to let you know which ones to play first

10. Yoshi

A boring puzzler (sad but true), where players prevent blocks containing monsters from reaching the top of the screen while calling on Yoshi to destroy these creatures. Cool to see familiar heroes and villains from the Mario franchise, but monotonous overall.

9. NES Open Tournament Golf

We have to admit, this is one simplistic but enjoyable golf outing for the NES, complete with three unique courses (U.S., UK and Japan), Match and Tournament Play. Even better, it stars Mario and Luigi, back when Nintendo tried to shoehorn one or both plumbers into (almost) everything the NES had to offer.

8. Ice Climber

It's been a long time since we've played Ice Climber, and can't wait to relive mostly happy memories of using Popo and Nana's wooden mallets to break chunks of ice and ascend the mountain while avoiding seals and polar bears.

7. Donkey Kong Jr.

Nintendo built off the success of Donkey Kong with this entertaining sequel, which casts players as the ape's son and tasks them with climbing vines and reaching platforms to eventually save the imprisoned gorilla from, of all characters, Mario. Definitely a step below the original Donkey Kong, but fun nonetheless.

6. Wrecking Crew

Mario stars in this bizarre action title where he (more like you) breaks objects with a huge hammer while avoiding enemies. Not one of the NES' most memorable games, but we'll gladly smash things any day of the week.

5. Balloon Fight

Nintendo's difficult but fun action game forces you to keep a character with two balloons on his back from falling by rapidly pressing A and B. Balloon Fight definitely has that "one more time" vibe, so expect to invest hours playing this one.

4. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

Many consider Zelda II to be the proverbial black sheep of the series, and for good reason. Nintendo ditched the top down perspective for a side scrolling view and then focused more on the story, magic spells and gaining experience. It is somewhat of an oddball, but you may appreciate the change of pace.

3. Metroid

Samus Aran blasted her way into our hearts in this intensely challenging NES adventure, where she explores an alien planet en route to a showdown with the evil Mother Brain. The game was a big deal back in the day, particularly because it featured a powerful female as the hero. Cool from start to epic finish.

2. Super Mario Bros.

Like most Nintendo fans, we played Super Mario Bros. to death, but always return for more. There's something magical about Mario's first adventure through the Mushroom Kingdom. Nostalgia probably has a lot to do with the game's appeal, which is fine by us, since stomping goombas and collecting gold coins never gets old.

1. The Legend of Zelda

The original Zelda holds up well, despite being 25 years old. Chalk that up to familiar characters (Link, Ganon, Princess Zelda), challenging dungeons, a small but effective group of weapons and that familiar theme music that'll get stuck inside your head for weeks.